A Qualitative Study on Middle-Aged Homemakers’ Daily Clothing Purchase Behavior: Clothing Consumption Values and Clothing Purchase Types

Abstract

This qualitative case study examined the experience of middle-aged homemakers with buying and wearing clothes. Clothing benefits and clothing purchase types were observed in the homemakers` daily clothing-related behavior. This study aims to understand clothing consumption values in light of clothing benefits and to determine purchasing methods, purchasing mental states, and personal characteristics according to the clothing purchase types of middle-aged homemakers. The participants of this study were four full-time homemakers and four homemakers with a job outside the home, all in middle age. This study was conducted through in-depth interviews based on an unstructured questionnaire, and the data were collected from January 2010 to October 2010. The results were as follows: first, the clothing benefits were identified as a social stereotype, aesthetic taste, economy, wearing situation, and age perception. The most important clothing consumption values to the middle-aged homemakers based on the observed clothing benefits were, in order: social value, emotional value, epistemic value, functional value, and conditional value. Second, the type of clothing purchase was observed to be planned buying, followed by impulse buying, and compensatory buying. Even when a homemaker planned to shop regularly, when they were exposed to an attractive retailer promotion, they seized on the opportunity on impulse or made a compensatory purchase to divert oneself. Even though homemakers prefer primarily impulse buying, when they went shopping for clothing with their mother-in-law or husband, they made planned purchase also.